Now is the time to explore big game recipes

There are plenty of deer and elk meat in my freezer. Sharing trout with family, friends and neighbors is in my blood, but stingy is the word given to me by me when it comes to deer, elk and walleye.

Elk stew

This recipe uses ground elk, not chunks of elk meat. Some stews call for meat cubes of an inch to an inch-and-a-half. This seems way too large for me. A meat cube this large could choke a person, so I go to ground meat for this recipe.

A large slow cooker is used for this dish. The meat is browned in a skillet and placed in the slow cooker, lots of meat, perhaps two pounds. Two cans of diced tomatoes, without salt added, is placed in the cooker.

The slow cooker is filled the rest of the way with onions, potatoes, celery and carrots. Any other vegetable a person enjoys can also be added.

If the cooker isn’t full, more potatoes, onions, carrots, etc. are added. If the dish seems dry, another can of tomatoes is added. If the stew seems too thin, corn starch, dissolved in water, is added.

When the meal is scheduled for the evening, the stew is started early in the morning. If the meal is in the morning, the stew is started the night before. It doesn’t seem to matter how long it cooks in the slow cooker, but turning it from high to low or warm may be prudent.

This would be a good meal to serve at deer or elk camp, where hungry hunters are waiting, or at any family gathering were lots of people are assembled. This is potluck material folks.

Marinating deer steaks

A lot of people marinate meat before cooking. A hunting buddy told me a story of him placing a few deer steaks in a re-sealable plastic bag. He placed a liquid marinade in with the steaks. A couple of days later he cooked a couple of them.

His wife grew up on deer meat and doesn’t enjoy it much these days. She came home as he was eating, so he gave her a bite. Then she ate one of the steaks.

This was good news for me. A day of research turned up two thought avenues. One says marinating meat does not tenderize it, just flavors it. The other way of thinking says the marinade both flavors and tenderizes the meat.